Feel like your phone is struggling or out of date too quickly? Here are 5 things you could be doing that shorten your phone’s lifespan…

In recent years, it can seem that once you’ve bought a new phone it’s out of date within a few months. Instead of needing to buy a new phone every 6 months, what can you do to ensure that your phone stays up to date for as long as possible?

Read on and see how many of the following 5 things you might be doing to shorten the lifespan of your phone.

1. Cheap cables and chargers

Just to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with buying a non-Apple cables and chargers to charge your iPhone with, or not using non-original chargers for your Android device; there are many high quality options available from brands like Anker, Otterbox, and others.

Where the trouble can begin is with cheap, no brand cables that are available on eBay and AliExpress The savings made buying these can definitely cost you in the long run. For the most part, these will look fine, and charge your phone, but it can cause issues with your phone’s battery and cause it to deteriorate over time.

In our repair centre, we have seen damaged phones countless times not holding a charge, not powering on, or the worst of the bunch; the battery begins to swell and can damage other parts of the phone. When talking to the customer, we commonly hear that a cheap wall or call charger has been used.

2. No case or screen protector

On the average day, how many people do you see using a phone with a cracked or broken screen and no case? Everyone is careful with their phone... until they’re not. We understand, all phones look better without a case, but is it worth the visit to our repair centre for a screen replacement? Maybe not…In terms of options, Otterbox cases are always a great choice, they have a great mixture of style and substance, and a slight lip around the edge of screen helps if the phone even lands face down.

If scratches and scuffs on the screen annoy you (I can’t stand them) then a tempered glass screen protector is a must, and they are a far cry from the film protectors that were available a few years ago, so once it’s on you’ll barely notice it’s there.

If you’re adamant on keeping your phone naked, gadget insurance or AppleCare+ could be a useful alternative, but relying on yourself to be careful might be a risky decision.

3. Draining your battery

Batteries deteriorate over time, there’s no real way to avoid that, but the degradation can definitely be slowed down. Also, the general performance of your device may even suffer along with the battery life, as we’ve seen with iPhones in recent years.

Something that not a lot of our customers seem to be aware of is that letting your battery run flat before charging is actually bad for it; the best thing to do is charge the phone when it gets down to about 30% or so. Another common myth is that charging your phone overnight, or leaving the charger plugged in when the battery is full can harm the battery, this actually doesn’t seem to have any adverse effect.

Letting the battery run flat every now and then isn’t an issue, but letting it run down to a minimum of 25% - 30% before charging it is generally a good idea, and should keep your battery healthy as long as possible.

4. Security

This one can be tricky, because there have for sure been cases of software updates causing issues with some phones, but this doesn’t mean that there isn’t a cost to putting these off. Many of these software updates are designed to fix security flaws or bugs, and can really be beneficial to keep your phone running smoothly.

Another thing to be conscious of is the apps that you download, and you should generally avoid apps outside of the App Store or Google Play Store unless you know what you’re getting. Many apps not approved for the official stores can be filled with ads, or include additional apps that you’re not looking for. This is a sure fire way to cause software issues or worse, invite malware onto your device.

5. Water resistance is not an invitation

What is important to note here is the difference between ‘water-resistant’ and ‘water-proof’. All IP67 or IP68 rated phones are water resistant, including the newest iPhones and Samsung phones, but notwaterproof;no gadget is completely safe from liquid damage.

A good way to think of this is as a safety net, rather than a feature of phone. So, if get caught in a shower on the way home from work with your phone in your pocket, you don’t need to worry. If you feel like jumping in a swimming pool with your phone in your pocket, maybe not a great idea.

Still in trouble with your phone?

If you're having trouble with your phone, we can repair almost all issues in just 2 hours, with a full 12 month warranty. If you need a quote, get in touch today.